What To Order

I’ve loosely organized my recommendations around the drink categories listed on the Starbucks drive-thru menu. The pictures below are my own and should give you a rough idea of what your drink will look like.

LOW CARB HOT DRINKS

1. Low Carb Flat White

A Flat White typically comes with a highly concentrated shot of espresso and steamed whole milk to create a creamy coffee with a strong buzz. Steamed milk has 8g of sugar so replace it with a mixture of half heavy whipping cream and half water to get the same creaminess without the carbs.

3. Low Carb Latte

A Caffe Latte typically comes with espresso, steamed milk, and a light layer of foam. To recreate a low carb version, you’ll start from from scratch and order an Americano with a splash of heavy whipping cream. Ask them to add foam if the presentation under the lid is important to you (I forgot).

Order it low carb: “Short Americano, filled with 3/4 water and the rest with heavy cream. Add foam on top please.”

Macros: 216 calories, 4g net carbs, 3g protein, 22g fat.

4. Low Carb Fresh Brewed Coffee

Most of the fresh brewed hot coffees Starbucks are naturally keto friendly. I ordered a cup of their most popular brew: the Pike Place roast.

Order it low carb: “short Pike Place Roast.”

Macros: 5 calories, 0g net carbs, 0g protein, 0g fat

Starbucks List of Fresh Brewed Coffees:

Blonde Roast – 5 calories and 0g net carbs

Clover Brewed Coffee – 10 calories and 0g net carbs

Decaf Pike Place – 5 calories and 0g net carbs

Featured Dark Roast – 5 calories and 0g net carbs

Pike Place Roast – 5 calories and 0g net carbs

5. Low Carb Americano

Comes with espresso shots topped with hot water to produce a layer of crema (that dissipates quickly as you can’t really see it in my photo). It’s naturally low carb.

6. Low Carb Misto

Comes standard with a one-to-one mix of fresh brewed coffee and steamed milk. If you order it “short,” it only has 5g net carbs. If you want a larger size then replace the steamed milk with steamed half and half to cut the carbs.

Order it low carb: “Short Misto.”

Macros: 50 calories, 5g net carbs, 4g protein, 2g fat.

7. Low Carb Chai Tea Latte

The typical Chai Tea Latte is a foam-topped hot drink made from milk, water, and chai tea concentrate which has added sugar and honey. The added milk, sugar, and honey give the short-sized Chai Tea Latte a whopping 22 net carbs.

To get a low carb Chai Tea Latte, ask your barista to reconstruct the drink using their brewed chai tea bags (no concentrate), heavy whipping cream, and sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup. It’s delicious. This is one of my favorites.

LOW CARB ICED DRINKS

1. Low Carb Frappuccino

A typical Starbucks Frappuccino is a blend of coffee, milk, and ice, flavored with sugary syrups or sauces, topped with whipped cream and drizzled with decorative sweet toppings. The average “tall” Frappuccino has at least 40g net carbs.

To make a low carb Frappucino, start with a tall iced coffee, and ask them to blend it frappuccino-style with heavy whipping cream, sugar free syrup, and then optionally top it with whip cream and a low carb spice like nutmeg or cinnamon.

The possibilities are endless.

Here is an example of a Keto Cinnamon Dolce Frappuccino without whip cream that I ordered for my mom.

3. Low Carb Refreshers

The typical Starbucks Refreshers come with a high carb fruit juice base mixed with water and served over ice. Some also have milk added for flavor. To recreate a low carb Refresher beverage, order a brewed tea on ice then add flavor, color, & texture via 2 shots of heavy whipping cream and/or two shots of one of these sugar-free syrups:

Vanilla (Maltodextrin) – 1g net carbs per pump

Cinnamon Dolce (Sucralose) – 1g net carbs per pump

Mocha Sauce (Sucralose) – 1g net carbs per pump

Perhaps the most famous Refresher beverage is the Starbucks Pink Drink which has about 20g net carbs.